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14 deals done as Spanish premier visits Beijing to seek investment
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CHINA and Spain signed business deals worth about 3.2 billion euros (US$4 billion) yesterday during a visit by Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy to drum up support for his country’s economy.
At a ceremony in Beijing’s Great Hall of the People, Chinese and Spanish companies signed 14 deals in industries including telecommunications, nuclear power and finance.
Rajoy, who will meet Chinese President Xi Jinping today, is the latest European leader to visit China in a bid to attract investment from the world’s second-largest economy.
He was welcomed to the capital by Premier Li Keqiang after a morning gathering of Chinese and Spanish business executives in Shanghai, where Rajoy said the Spanish economy was back on track after its problems during the eurozone debt crisis.
“Few countries offer such a good investment opportunity as Spain with its open and competitive market,” Rajoy said, adding that the food and consumer industries were areas where companies in both countries could increase cooperation.
Companies that took part in the meeting included Spain’s largest bank Banco Santander, Inditex, the owner of global fashion chain Zara, and Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd, which listed on the New York stock exchange last week.
There was no word of a tie-up between Inditex and Alibaba despite reports in Spain that Rajoy was hoping to push through a partnership between one of the world’s largest clothing retailers and the Chinese e-commerce company that now has a market capitalization of more than US$220 billion.
The 14 agreements included deals between China’s Huawei Technologies, the world’s largest telecommunications equipment maker, and Spanish telecom giant Telefonica SA and a 150 megawatt contract in north China’s Hebei Province for wind turbine maker Gamesa Corporacion Tecnologica SA.
Spain is one of few economic brightspots in the eurozone this year.
It grew at its fastest pace in six years in the second quarter, accelerating a recovery from an on-off recession that began in 2008 after a property bubble burst.
“As the world economy slowly recovers, trade between China and Spain has been growing against the trend this year,” Li said during his meeting with Rajoy.
Chinese companies are increasingly investing abroad in search of higher returns. By 2014, China’s overseas direct investment is expected to exceed the direct investment it receives from foreign firms, the trade ministry said this month.
Chinese firms invested US$90.2 billion in nearly 160 countries last year, up 17 percent on an annual basis.
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